Sunshine Over Strange Lands
by AllTheGoodOnesWereTaken
Summary: It seems simple enough. During an excursion to the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle and Zecora come across a mysterious new colt. But things are seldom that simple.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **_Okay, so, this is an attempt to get back into writing after a long hiatus, and my very first attempt at writing for this fandom. So, yeah, I will apologize in advance for things like poor story structure, and OOC character traits. I will try to keep them to a minimum, but I am not sure I can make many promises._

_**Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, any of the characters belonging to it, nor am I making any money from this.**_

**Chapter 1:**

"_Life was always tricky. I could never really figure it out. Not in the sense of its origins, or what the purpose may be. But in its very motivations. I suppose life is the wrong word to use? Maybe something more akin to the cosmic will, or the driving forces of karma? Eh, I suppose life is as good a word as any... And yet, I never had that problem with death..._

_Maybe that's why I was always the weird one? The creepy, depressing kid that sat alone in the corner of the lunch room. The one that had imaginary friends through middle school in lieu of real ones. The one who wasn't even a noticeable presence in high school and beyond. Or maybe I was just crazy, I don't know. But I always had a respect for death. Not a fear. Fearing death was like fearing the sun in the morning, or the air you breathed. It was something that would ultimately come for you. When your time was up, it didn't matter who you were, it would be there. Unavoidable. Inevitable._

_But this wasn't really about death. This was about life. Whereas death is the epitome of fair, claiming everyone sooner or later, life tended to cheat. Tended to indulge in underhanded dealings, favoring some, while taking from others. Granting boons to those who deserved nothing, and taking what was left from people who had precious little left to give in the first place. Like I said, I never understood its motivation._

_Especially when it came to me. It always gave me just enough. Just enough food to eat to keep from starving, while still being hungry. Just enough money to keep me from losing what little I had. Just enough sleep to allow me to function without being rested. Just enough hope to keep me from having death make a house call._

_But the funny thing about 'just enough'. It wears out really damn quick. So, I decided to change the rules. If life wanted to give me just enough to keep me alive, I decided to see just how far I could push its twisted little game. In retrospect, it's a gamble I probably shouldn't have made."_

* * *

Somewhere in the Everfree Forest, just as the light from Celestia's sun was starting to wane, the glorious golden sphere descending from the sky to make room for the silver orb of her sister, a somewhat nervous alicorn trotted, her wings rustling restless, and her purple eyes sweeping the area around her. Her saddlebags, full of herbs and various scrolls containing very detailed notes, jostled at her brisk pace. The sound of the shifting contents mingling with that of trotting hooves and breathing served as the only soundtrack to the coming night.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was not a fan of the Everfree Forest. True, she had a better grasp on it than almost anypony else she knew (with the possible exception of her friend, and current guide, Zecora), but that didn't make it any less dangerous of a place to be after nightfall. And yet, that was not what was causing the lavender mare's anxiety. Truthfully, a large part of what was causing it, was that she wasn't know what was causing it. Something just seemed off about the forest tonight. It was too quiet, and the air felt almost oppressive. She knew it should all just be some baseless nonsense, just her nerves playing tricks on her, yet try as she might, she couldn't shake it. And that caused her even more anxiety.

"My dear Princess Sparkle, are you feeling well? Something is bothering you, this I can tell." Twilight blinked, pulled out of her musings by the voice of her zebra friend Zecora, who often served as her guide on these herb and information gathering excursions. She offered a sheepish smile, and shook her indigo mane back from her face. "I'm fine Zecora. Or, I will be once we get out of the forest. It just seems... extra spooky tonight. Probably just my mind playing tricks on me." She finished with a nervous chuckle, though it didn't help alleviate the ominously silent atmosphere of the forest that night.

Zecora merely nodded, offering a smile to her companion, before her gaze returned to the front, and her smile faded into a more serious look. "The Everfree can hide many things, best not to wait and see what the night brings."

The two continued to trot onwards towards Zecora's hut, before something caught Twilight's eye. Jolting her head upward, she had almost missed it. A falling star. But just one. And she was fairly certain that Luna had no plans for meteor showers for at least a month. And it winked out after only a few brief moments. And just like that, the feelings of anxiety that she had been able to push away for the latter part of their walk came back. Something about that just _felt_ wrong. She couldn't explain it if she had wanted to. Instead, she increased her pace, nearly to a full-blown gallop, in her attempt to get back to Zecora's hut post-haste. If the zebra thought it odd, she said nothing, merely keeping pace with her friend.

Of course Zecora knew about Twilight's anxieties. The forest had felt odd for the last several hours. Or, more odd than was usual. She had actually hoped to ask if Twilight had any idea what may be happening, locked away in that huge reserve of knowledge she had. But the fact that Twilight, who had perhaps the single most brilliant mind in Equestria, seemed baffled by this was very troubling indeed.

* * *

He found it was hard to put the pieces together. He had remembered he had been running, but had he been running too something? Away from it? He couldn't remember which way he was heading, and none of his surroundings looked familiar. But then, that wasn't saying much. His mind wasn't much use right now. It seemed to be crammed full of nothing so much as disjointed memories and senses. Places he may have been, or may not have been, or may not even exist but he could remember them all the same. Names and faces that meant nothing to him aside from a vague sensation that they should mean more. Sounds, snippets of memories, nostalgic things that he couldn't even tie down as being his own. All of it overlapped into a static that echoed through his head, drowning out his capacity at the moment for rational thought.

His body though, was proving it didn't need his ability for thought. His legs carried him blindly through... wherever he was. He wasn't even sure. Occasionally something would scratch at his shoulders or face, tangling in his hair. Yet he couldn't bring himself to stop. His body was left to its own devices as his mind was forced to try to confront the disorienting haze that had somehow seized hold of it.

However, as fate would have it, he was not doomed to run forever. No, a rather abrupt stop was set out right before him in the form of a rather solid stone wall. One that did not even register to his notice, until his impact with it had stolen his consciousness away.

* * *

Upon arrival at her hut, Zecora shrugged her saddlebags off and set them down near her shelf of potion ingredients, before she turned her gaze to her friend. "Please come in and have some tea, and we can discuss the Everfree."

Twilight shifted nervously. It was getting late, and she wanted to get home soon. But she knew it would be awfully rude of her to turn down her friend's request. "Well... Just one cup. Sorry Zecora. I don't want to be rude, but it's just..." She trailed off, scuffing her hoof against the ground and looking away from the zebra. Zecora merely nodded and set about preparing two cups of Moonblossom tea. "My friend, I understand your worry. Many things through the dark forest scurry. But this night is different, quiet and eerie. I was hoping perhaps, that you had a theory."

Twilight took a seat, giving a nod of thanks at the cup that Zecora had offered her, her magical aura grasping it, and moving it to her lips so she could take a careful sip of the steaming liquid. "I wish I did Zecora. By all accounts it just doesn't make sense." She scrunched her brows up in a way that made quite clear she was deep in thought, and was growing a little more vexed that the answer was still eluding her. "I think a lot of it comes from how little we know about the forest itself. The Everfree Forest is said to be an ancient place, tied to mysteries and magics lost to modern knowledge. If it was ever truly understood in the first place. But, it's almost like..." Twilight set her teacup down on the saucer provided, and tried to think of how to explain the odd sense she got. "I don't know... Almost like the forest was... Scared? Anxious maybe?" She kept trying, but her brain just seemed unable to grasp the right word for the concept. After a moment, she chuckled softly, though the hint of anxiety was still there. "I'm sorry Zecora. It really must be getting to me. Listen to me, I'm making almost as much sense as Pinkie Pi-AAAIIEEEE!"

The cause for the sudden change in pitch from casual conversation to high pitched scream was easy enough to figure out. Something had collided with the outer wall of the hut with enough force to cause several items on the shelves to rattle, and were it not for Zecora's quick reflexes and Twilight rapidly composing herself and grasping several of said items with her telekinesis, Zecora's cabin would have been quite a mess in very short order.

"Oh my! What could that have been?! To have my hut rattled so, I've not before seen!" Zecora called out in the aftermath, replacing the items she had caught before hurrying over to the window, trying to find the beast that had assaulted her home. As Twilight trotted over to join her, Zecora's eyes came to rest on the culprit, and she gasped audibly. Laying in a heap was a pale grey colt, with a charcoal black mane. But what caused the gasp was the more noticeable color. A deep crimson seemed to shine in the light of the newly risen moon. It trickled from the end of his snout, and a rather nasty gash on his forehead. The end result was almost that this stranger was wearing a ghoulish red mask.

Twilight also gasped as she arrived at the window, seeing the train wreck that was the colt. "Oh my goodness! We have to help him!" She wasted no time in opening the door, and rushing to the colt's side, Zecora following half a step behind. When they arrived, Twilight knelt down next to him, her horn already charging with the magic needed to perform the teleportation spell. Zecora meanwhile pulled his eyelids open carefully to reveal a pair of pale blue eyes. She said nothing, merely turned to look at Twilight with a nod. And then, in a burst of purple-pink energy, the trio was whisked away to the Ponyville hospital.

**A/N:**_ Okay so, that's chapter one. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I know it's not great. I do plan to incorporate the other cast members as well. And, there may be some odd ball chapters where it switches things up quite a bit. I'll try not to get too carried with them. Anyway, let me know what you think. Reviews, comments, criticism all are welcome._


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters, locations, or really anything even remotely related to the My Little Pony franchise. Nor is this story generating any profit._

**Chapter 2:**

"_I've always been fascinated by dreams. I suppose it's one of those things that stemmed from my outlook on life. After all, when there's not much in the world around you to look forward to, you start to turn inward. To explore the worlds within._

_And I spent a lot of time there. I knew the mountains, the deserts, the cities... I knew the stories behind them, the legends. And it made me wonder; what if there is something more? What if these are not merely fabrications of the mind, designed for escape?_

_Whatever they were, however they came to be, they were beautiful. Places of serene beauty, majestic splendor, or even dazzling vibrancy. But when I woke up, when I looked back on them, there was always some flaw that I was unable to see while I was inside them. Like an oil stain that one can only see from an outside perspective._

_To this day, the implications of this trouble me. Quite possibly far more than they should."_

In a small room in Ponyville hospital, a soft groan resounded. The source of the noise was a pale gray earth pony colt who was currently occupying one of the beds. The colt turned his head to one side, trying to shift his eyes away from the unwelcome glare of the morning sunlight dancing upon his eyelids. His efforts were ultimately futile.

He was no stranger to the sensation of his senses returning. In fact it was something so ingrained within his being that their simple return began an internal checklist to start counting down:

'_Arms and legs, present. Nothing stiff or sore. Lower back, no aches. Throat, no aches or scratchiness. Sinuses, nothing stuffed up. Chest, no aches or pain, breathing is fine. Head and neck, no aches or tension. I think it may have finally happened. I think I may have finally just gone and died.' _And with that thought in mind, he slowly forced his eyes open, and granted his senses leave to take in the world around him.

It was rather hard to know what to focus on first. Part of him wanted to take note that he was apparently in a hospital, though it looked strikingly different from any hospital he'd ever been in. Another section of his brain wanted to brazenly point out that the sky outside was almost far too blue, the leaves on the trees he could see were way too green, and everything in general just seemed to be far too colorful. But, if he had to choose one topic to focus his immediate attention on right at that instant, he would have to say it would be the chestnut-brown unicorn standing near the door, complete with a doctor's white lab coat, a pair of glasses, and holding a clipboard in front of him in some sort of light-green haze.

"Ah, good! I see you're finally awake. You took a nasty knock to the head." The horned-equine doctor commented, setting the clipboard down and trotting over to the colt who sat stunned on the hospital bed.

_'Who would have guessed it? Every religion in the world is wrong. There's no pearly gates, or 69 virgins. Just Dr. Mr. Ed here, and the light OF A THOUSAND BURNING SUNS IN MY EYES, JESUS!' _His train of thought of thought was rather rudely (in his opinion), interrupted by the doctor shining a small penlight in his eyes. "Argh! My retinas!" The colt blurted out, pulling back and squeezing his eyes shut at the painful invasion of focused light particles on his sensitive eyes.

"Oh, my apologies, but I do need to confirm there aren't any lasting damages. Our magic was able to patch you up quite nicely, but according to Ms. Sparkle, you had quite a collision." The doctor said, putting the pen light away, and pulling the clipboard over, along with a quill, to make a few notes.

The colt sat up, his pale blue eyes still squinted in preparation for another assault. He went to rub the spots from them, only to stop and stare quizzically for a moment at the place where his hand used to be. Now, instead of four fingers and a glorious oppose-able thumb, there was a hoof. That was it. He supposed the mature and rational thing to do would be to freak out and try to figure out exactly what was going on here. However, he was sure that would also lead to more tests about just how badly his brain may have been scrambled by whatever had landed him here in the first place. He kind of wanted to avoid to that. Instead, he slowly lowered his arm (or was it a foreleg now? He didn't exactly make top of his class in equine biology), took a deep breath to compose himself, and instead forced his mind to latch onto anything that wasn't, '_Why the hell am I a horse now?!'_

"Uh, doc..?" He started, the doctor lifting his gaze to peer at him over the clipboard. "You said something about a Ms. Sparkle having seen what had happened to me?"

The doctor smiled and gave a nod. "Oh, yes! In fact, I should think you'll be getting to meet her rather soon."

* * *

Two mares stood at the threshold of the Ponyville Golden Oaks Library, one, an ivory white unicorn with impeccably styled amethyst mane, had her mouth agape in horror at the sight that had been presented to her. The other, an orange earth pony sporting her flaxen mane in a ponytail and wearing the stetson hat she was known for, looked thoroughly befuddled. The third individual present, that being the small purple dragon that had opened the doors to grant them entry, looked exhausted. The reason for all of this was tied into the way everything else looked. Books littered the floor, the shelves having had a couple only haphazardly thrown back on. A small trench appeared to have been carved in the floor, and the desk the librarian, in this case one Princess Twilight Sparkle, used to draft her correspondences, was littered with pages of parchment, quills, and ink.

Spike offered a tiny smile at seeing them. "Applejack! Rarity! Thank goodness! Maybe you can try to talk some sense into her?" The two mares looked at each other, before the orange one, Applejack, spoke.

"Ah guess we c'n try, sugarcube, but..." Her emerald green eyes drifted up to the door on the upper landing, the one she was all but certain her lavender friend was working herself into a frenzy behind. "Ya' know how she gits when she's like this."

At that point, the unicorn mare, Rarity, spoke up. "Indeed darling. Twilight is a bit high strung. Though... I'm not sure why she wouldn't come to us with something that was bothering her so much. Especially after the Smarty Pants doll incident..." Applejack seemed to cringe slightly at that. Not only had that devolved into such a problem that Celestia herself had to come tend to it, Big Mac still had that doll, and she was never sure whether to find it sweet, or a little odd.

"That's true..." Spike muttered. "I mean, she even went to Pinkie for help when she thought the world was going to end..."

"Oh, tha' time travel spell, right? I heard abou' that." Applejack said with a chuckle, earning an unamused look from Spike, causing her to clear her throat and shift her hooves nervously. "Anyway Spike, I reckon we c'n give it a sho-"

Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by a flash of purple magic, startling the two mares, and even eliciting a yelp of surprise from Spike.

"I'm can't believe this! I'm late I'm late I'm LATE!" Twilight ranted, trotting back and forth through the library, apparently looking for something. Spike, seeing this, had already started walking towards her desk.

"Spike! Where are m-"

"Right here Twilight." Spike said, holding up Twilight's saddlebags, which she promptly seized in her magic, and zipped over to her. Spike had learned after the first to let go almost as soon as he brought them to her attention. Not doing so is a good way to get zipped across the room by the frantic mare.

"Thanks Spike! You're a life saver!" Twilight said, settling her saddlebags down on her back. Before she could teleport herself away however, one of her friends decided it was time to speak up, partially to announce their presence, but also to address a much more concerning issue.

"Darling! You're mane! You're not going out like that are you?!" Rarity's voice cut through the library, drawing both Twilight's attention as well as Applejack's.

"Really? That's the point yer makin'?" Applejack asked with a deadpan tone to match the deadpan stare. A stare which was met with a hasty glare from the fashion pony, before her attention turned back to Twilight.

The lavender alicorn was a mess. Her mane was frazzled, and her left eye had developed that dreaded tic. Even her right ear was flopping intermittently. It was not a look any of them wanted to see their friend sporting. "I'm merely saying Applejack, a princess should take more pride in her appearance..." She sighed after saying that though, and took a few steps towards Twilight. "Twilight, Spike has told us that you've been working yourself into a frenzy these past few days. We're here to make sure you're okay, darling."

Applejack also slowly approached the mare, who looked at the two for a moment, as if still surprised they were there, before lifting a hoof to rub one of her eyes. "I'm sorry girls, but it's not really that bad, honest. Just some research on the Everfree Forest..."

"Twi', ya paced a ditch in the floor..." Applejack pointed out in her rather blunt way, nodding towards the groove in question. Twilight blushed and looked away sheepishly, scuffing the floor with her hoof.

"Look, I'm sorry girls. I'll fill you in later, I promise, but right now I'm late. I have to get to the Ponyville hospital-" the rest of her sentence was cut off by a gasp from Rarity.

"Whatever for, dear? Are you hurt? Did something happen? Is it one of the doc-" Rarity's game of many questions was silenced by a well placed orange hoof over her lips.

"I think wha' Rare's tryin' ta say is that we're mighty curious why ya'd be visitin' the hospital." Applejack summarized.

Twilight was practically bouncing in place, not wanting to be rude, or ungrateful for her friends stopping in to check up on her, but also really feeling the seconds slip away until she was irredeemably late on her own schedule.

"I'm visiting a colt..." She started, causing Rarity's eyes to light up. "Zecora and I found him... Or, I guess he found us, in the Everfree Forest a few nights ago. He ran right into the side of her hut... Knocked himself pretty good. We took him to the hospital, and I've been visiting him every day just to see if he's awake yet."

"Oh I can see it now!" Rarity began almost as soon as Twilight finished. "A reckless wanderer in a dangerous forest late at night, saved by a fair princess who stole his heart in the process. And so after he recovers, he must set out to prove his worth and claim her affections for his own..." Rarity was too busy swooning to notice the other two mares exchange some rather puzzled glances, and a shrug from Applejack.

"Anyway Sugarcube, ya mind if we tag along ta meet this myst'ry colt?"

Instead of wasting more time giving them an answer, Twilight's horn started to glow with it's signature aura, before with one final pop, they were gone. Spike took a moment to look around the library, before heaving a sigh, and with a defeated posture and shuffle to his steps, he set about cleaning up the catastrophe that the room had become.

* * *

After the doctor, who had introduced himself as Dr. Goodsense, had left the room the mysterious colt had found himself alone with little to do but think. Most of his thoughts came in the form of trying to piece together the events of last night. Or, more accurately the last night he was conscious. _'The doc says I was brought in after face-planting into a wall. Kind of wish I could remember that part. I must have been hauling ass. The theory seems to be that I was running from something in the Everfree Forest place. I guess that's not uncommon, but it also doesn't seem right... I know there's something else. And it's probably tied into how I got here in the first place. Now I just wish I could figure out where the hell here is...' _His pale blue eyes darted across the room, but it was still the same white floors and walls. He supposed he could have gotten up and paced a bit, but he was feeling lazy. Also, doctor's orders were to stay in bed for the time being. _'Playing the amnesia card now, mostly because that's what they assumed, and trying to correct them would cause so many more problems...' _He groaned and lifted a hoof to his head, gently trying to rub the forming headache away. This wasn't helping. Right now, he just needed a distraction. Really, any distraction.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and it swung open granting entry to one of the nurses, Redheart, if he remembered correctly, and three more mare ponies. "Good news!" The nurse chirped, walking over to him. "You have visitors!"

As his eyes moved to the three mares, he suddenly found himself wishing he had been a bit more specific about his desire for a distraction. While 'anything' had seemed good at the time, 'anything but this' was seeming a lot better by the second.

Okay, maybe that wasn't fair. Maybe one of these was the elusive 'Ms. Sparkle', a name for which he still lacked a face. Maybe they were doing some sort of charity work? Maybe they just got the wrong room?

No, as soon as his pale blue eyes fell upon them, he knew that last one wasn't the case. The white unicorn had a bizarre look in her eyes, like it couldn't decide whether to be dreamy and wistful, or disappointed. It gave her smile an oddly forced appearance. The orange one that was standing nearby, he couldn't be sure if she was a unicorn or not, given the hat, just gave him an appraising look. That was good, and he hoped that maybe most of his dealings would be with her. The final one though had a look in her eyes that scared him. It was the burning look of curiosity. The desire to ask him questions that as of right now, he had no answer to.

And then, in direct contrast to what he had been hoping, and coming as absolutely no shock to him, the lavender winged-unicorn mare approached him. It was weird to watch, like she was trying to hurry right up to his bedside, while at the same time maintaining some sheepish shuffling quality. His mind actually couldn't comprehend watching it, and he blinked a few times as he tried to sort it all out.

"I am so glad to see you're awake!" And so it began... "I was really worried when we found you. Was something chasing you? What were you doing out in the Everfree Forest at night anyway. Everypony knows it's dangerous! You're feeling better now though, right? Dr. Goodsense is one of the best we have here in Ponyville." As the lavender mare asked her questions, the colt tried desperately to retreat back into his pillow, his pale blue eyes shifting nervously, like a cornered animal seeking an escape. Just before he could try to bolt from the bed and make a run for it, he noticed the lavender mare retreating. She seemed to notice it too after a few moments, and turned to look at the orange pony, who was currently using her teeth to pull the highly verbose mare away from the bed-ridden colt by her indigo tail.

This caused the colt to raise an eyebrow, as his attention was now drawn to the odd markings on the rump of each of the mares. He figured he hadn't noticed before since the doctors and nurses had uniforms. And then to avoid the topic of nudity in a world seemingly populated by ponies, he switched back to the conversation that was now taking place between the three.

"Twi, all Ah'm sayin' is that ya should give the poor colt some breathin' room. He jest woke up." The orange one was saying.

"Applejack's right darling. Besides, the doctor did say that his injuries had apparently left him with amnesia, remember? I doubt he could answer any of your questions anyway." The white unicorn said, placing a hoof on her friend's shoulder. The lavender mare slumped a little bit, and sighed. "I know girls. I was just really curious. That whole night had been kind of... Well, kind of strange."

"We understand darling. Though to be honest, I was not expecting him to be quite so... scruffy." The white mare spoke. This brought a slightly amused smirk from the colt, which went unnoticed by the mares. What did not go unnoticed, however, was his voice.

"Scruffy? Well, I guess trying to move that wall with my face did some good. Before, I was just downright ugly. Scruffy seems to be a definite step in the right direction." The white unicorn turned her head to hide her heating cheeks as he continued. "I don't mind the questions, but your friend... Applejack, was it..?" He shifted his gaze to the orange mare, who nodded in confirmation. "Does have a point. I don't remember much, so I probably won't be able to help you. And, if you could just slow down a little, maybe give me some time to answer between questions?" The lavender mare refused to meet his eyes and offered a nod. He merely nodded himself, glad to have some damage control in place.

"Oh, where are our manners?!" The voice belonged to the white one, who seemed to have overcome her embarrassment at being caught in a faux pas. "We haven't even properly introduced ourselves to the poor dear." She trotted over to stand near his bedside. "It seems you have already gleaned who Applejack is." She started, the orange mare tipping her stetson, the movement indicating that she wasn't likely hiding a horn beneath it. "This is our good friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Rarity announced proudly, a move which actually seemed to get Twilight to try to shrink away in embarrassment. "Rarity, please... Just, Twilight is fine..." She mumbled as she shifted nervously in place. The white mare continued on then. "And I am Rarity, owner and operator of the Carousel Boutique. Pleased to meet you."

The colt merely smiled uncomfortably. He knew what the next question was, and he did not have an answer for it. Well, he did, but it was complicated. What he did have was a trump card based on assumptions and lies by omission. So, when the question did finally come, he used the oldest strategy in his play book; playing dumb.

"I uh... I actually can't remember what my name is..."

**A/N:**_ So, second chapter down, I have no clue how many more to go. Planning things out is not my strong suit. I also apologize if my style of writing is difficult to follow. Like I said, not a terribly experienced writer, but I'm trying. Anyway, feel free to leave a review, or a comment, or whatever it is you young people do these days. And I will try to stay motivated to update this at least semi-regularly._


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters, locations, or really anything even remotely related to the My Little Pony franchise. Nor is this story generating any profit._

**A/N: **_So, while I wanted to do the monologue type quotes at the beginning of every chapter, I will probably ultimately end up dropping them from most chapters in the future. Kind of because the I think the vibe was set-up with the first two, and a persistent presence is not required. Also, because there's only so much one can say along the same lines. Having them preface every chapter would end up with me running out only a few chapters in. And I might need some for later. Anyway, with that ramble out of the way, let's get this chapter started._

**Chapter 3:**

It had taken nearly fifteen minutes of ducking questions, providing vague, half-answers, and playing dumb before the mares finally left. Once they were gone, he sighed and settled back in his bed and stared at the ceiling with an exasperated sigh. He had managed to do pretty well, if he said so himself, keeping himself from flipping out over his situation. But it still needed to be dealt with. He was still a pony, apparently, in a strange land. He had no clue how he got here, how things worked, or anything.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. _'One problem at a time... You're a pony. We'll worry about the how and why later. You're apparently someplace populated by talking ponies. Unicorns, both with and without wings, are present. It seems safe to assume that pegasi are present here as well. The town is called Ponyville, located near the Everfree Forest, which is apparently where I was found.' _He sucked in some air through his teeth, a nervous habit he had when he started to analyze his thoughts.

_'There's a clothing store in town, so clothing is used, but apparently not overly common, as the only individuals you've seen wearing them were in a uniform capacity. And apparently there are these ass-tattoos called 'Cutie Marks'. Supposedly a mark of individual talent or purpose. I'll have to check and see if I have one later. If not, I'll need an excuse as to why I don't. Aww... Crap. I'm going to need to find a place to work and stay, just in case this situation can't be resolved quickly. Which, I'm going to wager that it won't be.' _He groaned out loud, throwing a foreleg over his eyes, trying to block out the suddenly offensive sunlight streaming in through the window. He figured they would likely be releasing him into Miss Sparkle's care in the next few hours. After all, he was fine save his 'amnesia', and so it wouldn't make sense to keep him here much longer.

_'But Miss Sparkle is also part of the monarchy, I believe. She may have some answers. If I can keep her from overwhelming me with a landslide of her own questions...' _He let a quick snort escape his new muzzle, an imitation of a short, mirthless laugh. But suddenly something didn't feel right in the room. He removed his foreleg from his eyes, which were now wide open and alert as they shifted around the room. He swept the room from left to right, but didn't see anything. At least not until his eyes swung back to the left and were suddenly overwhelmed by a shade of pink that he was pretty sure god never intended.

"Hi! You must be new in town!" The voice that could be undersold as a scream rattled his ears and caused him to push himself away from the noise, getting caught in the sheet and falling from the bed. Thankfully, unlike running face first into a stone wall, he had practice with this. Well, mostly. The new anatomy didn't do him many favors. He landed on his shoulders, head tucked towards his chest which allowed him to effectively roll backwards and up onto his hooves. His attempts to instinctively return to a standing position on his back feet however, proved to be his undoing, as he overbalanced and toppled to one side. "Of course..." He muttered, hastily scrabbling to his hooves again and looking at the bright pink intruder, who had been busy watching him curiously with her bright blue eyes, before she bounced right up to him, pressing her muzzle against his.

"I knew it! My Pinkie-sense had told me that there was a new pony in town. My leg got pinchy, and by back and all wiggly, and my eye started to flutter, and I just knew there was a new friend for me to meet! And now that you're here we can throw you the bestest party ever! It'll be a Welcome to Ponyville party, but also a Glad You're Feeling Better party, because you're getting out of the hospital and I'll invite everyone I know, so the whole town'll be there because I know everyone! And I'll introduce you to all my friends and..." And at some point, the poor colt just completely zoned out. He kept waiting for her to run out of breath, to stop and have to breathe, but she didn't. She just kept on going, and going. It was insane. He was pretty sure that even by pony standards this mare would have been required to breathe at some point.

"...And I'll even get my good friend Dashie to help me bake some super special cupcakes, just for the party! Doesn't that sound great?!" He blinked as the sudden change of pitch and inflection indicated a question. A question that he had no idea how to answer, because truthfully, he wasn't even sure what it was. Well, when all else fails, bluff.

"Uh, yeah, no problem... Umm... Could you take just, you know, a few steps back? You're kind of in my personal space..." He asked, his eyes occasionally flickering towards the door in the vain hopes that a nurse would show up to escort this pony back to the psych ward he was fairly certain she had escaped from.

The pink pony in question merely flashed a grin that bordered on being too wide for her face. "Okie-dokie-loki!" And with that she bounced back a few feet, allowing the colt room to breathe, and plan a proper escape if he needed to. "Rarity's always telling me the same thing. Ooh! Have you met Rarity yet?! She designs clothes and she's really, really good at it! She even put on a fashion show one time to impress Hoity Toity, but there was a minor problem..."

He closed his eyes, wincing in almost physical pain as she started talking non-stop, again. Suddenly, he missed the purple one. Sure, she had a manic gleam in her eyes and a penchant for asking a lot of questions, but at least the questions could leave some room for his input, and if handled carefully, could be brought to a conclusion fairly effectively. This pink mare, on the other hand...

"Hey! Are you even listening?!" The sudden outburst cut through his thoughts rather roughly, forcing his eyes to snap open, only to find he wasn't looking at the hyperactive pink pony. A glimpse of her frizzy pink mane though drew his attention to his left side, where he saw her giving him a stern look, which seemed odd coming from the pony who had, up until now proven to be little more than a bundle of crazy energy wrapped up in a pony suit.

"Uh, sorry, no... I guess I kind of zoned out." He answered with a shrug. He was really hoping his dismissive attitude would dissuade further conversation. He was not so lucky.

"That's okay. It seems to happen a lot around here. Like sometimes when I try talking to Applejack about my ideas to grow a fruit salad tree, because why just have one fruit per tree, right? Or, when I want to talk to Twilight about my great idea to..." Deciding to take action, the colt cleared his throat. Loudly, which caused Pinkie to look at him quizzically. "That doesn't sound too good. You're not sick are you? Hospitals are supposed to fix that!" She followed this with a loud, almost exaggerated gasp. "You don't think they're not doing their jobs, do you?! This should be reported immediately to th-"

"I believe you had something you were trying to ask me..?" He cut in. He just needed to find a stopping point for the conversation. Somewhere he could break it off, and send the crazy mare on her way. Or at the very least, call for hospital security. Oh, how he hoped they had hospital security in this place.

"Oh! Right!" She lifted a hoof and pointed it at his flank, drawing his attention there. Well, that marked one thing off of his to-do list. Right there, on his left flank was the image of... He squinted at it, trying to figure it out. It looked almost like a broken mirror, maybe? Under a set of eyes? Well, maybe not a mirror, but a broken something. "Your cutie mark! I was just trying to figure out what it meant..." She moved her hoof to her chin, and though he had been watching her the whole time, he still had no clue where the bubble pipe and Sherlock Holmes hat came from. "Ooh! Are you like someone who looks for broken things?! And then you fix them?! Wait, no, that doesn't make sense..." He found himself wryly wondering if that's ever stopped the crazy mare before. "Oh! Maybe you break mirrors by looking at them?!" He sighed and face-hoofed, before shaking his head and deciding to speak up before this situation got even more ridiculous.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's neither of those. Look, I've... I've been having some difficulty remembering things. I'm not even sure what this means." He said with a nod to the marking on his flank. "And I'm still a bit..."

He trailed off as he looked at her. Her demeanor had changed so suddenly he wasn't entirely sure she was the same pony. She sat on the floor with a slight sag to her posture, and her bright blue eyes looked at him, welling up with tears. He was so caught off guard as he looked at what had just minutes before been a happy, bouncy pony, that he missed the early warning signs. As a result, when the blur of pink wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug, all he could do was try to keep breathing and worm his way out of her surprisingly strong grip.

"I'm so sorry! It must be so sad to have forgotten what your talent is! But don't you worry, your old Auntie Pinkie Pie will find a way to help! Then we can throw you another party to celebrate you remembering, and-"

She was cut off by the sound of a clearing throat from the doorway, and both the pink mare and the unfortunate colt in her grasp turned to look at the doorway, where one Dr. Goodsense was giving the energetic pink pony a rather stern look over the top of his glasses. "Miss Pie, if you would kindly let my patient rest, I would be most appreciative." He said, causing Pinkie to release her death grip with a smile. "Okie-dokie-loki! I have a party to plan!" And with that she bounced out of the room, leaving the stunned gray colt to pick himself up from the floor and make his way back over to the bed. The doctor following him. "I apologize for Pinkie. She means no harm, she's just the overly excitable type." The colt responded without words, just a look that practically screamed _'You don't say?!'_ "Anyway, it seems you have healed up nicely. There's nothing we can do for your amnesia, I'm afraid. But it should come back to you in time. Nothing to worry about. However, we were unable to find any family. So, lacking anyone to contact, it seems we will have to turn you over to Miss Sparkle's custody. Unless you have any objections."

Truthfully, he felt he had a few reasons to object. But they were all effectively outweighed by one major problem: He had nowhere else to go. And not wanting to try to live in a hospital, he decided to bite the bullet, and deal with things as they came. "No sir, no objections..."

* * *

Rarity set her tea cup down and looked across the table at Twilight Sparkle. Applejack had departed back to Sweet Apple Acres to finish some chores shortly after they had left the hospital, leaving Rarity alone with Twilight Sparkle. Rarity had suggested stopping by the local cafe for lunch.

"Thanks Rarity. I guess I have been forgetting to eat properly. I've just been really distracted." Twilight said, sipping her own tea, and eagerly awaiting the arrival of her daffodil and spring wheat sandwich.

"Oh think nothing of it, darling. Though it is hard to imagine that a colt would have you in such a tizzy." Rarity said with a smile, her gaze moving from her friend to the clear blue sky. "I must say, the pegasi have done a splendid job with the weather today. Don't you agree Twilight?" Rarity asked, but upon receiving no answer, her attention shifted back to her purple friend, whose brows were furrowed. "Uh... Twilight?"

Twilight looked up quickly. "Huh? Oh, sorry Rarity, I was just thinking..." She sighed and rested her chin on the table, falling silent again.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense darling. What could possibly be on your mind that could distract you from such a beautiful day?" Rarity asked, her pale blue aura surrounding her tea cup as she raised it daintily to her lips.

Twilight was silent a moment before she started speaking again. "Well, the night we found in the Everfree Forest, Zecora and I both noticed it was oddly quiet. But more than that, I saw a falling star..."

"Twilight dear, falling stars are not all that uncommon you know? If I'm not mistaken, Princess Luna usually has one scheduled every month and a half or so?" Rarity asked, though her tone was hesitant. Twilight was not only one of the most intelligent ponies in Equestria, she was easily one of the most thorough. If something bothered her, odds were good she had looked into it.

"That's just it though! I sent a letter to Princess Luna that night after we took him to the hospital. Not only did she not cause the falling star, but she had no idea it had happened!" Twilight said, and her tone cause Rarity to flinch slightly. She knew that tone of voice. Twilight was getting dangerously close to her full-blown freak-out mode.

"Twilight, darling, listen to me... I'm sure if it was anything worth worrying about, the Princess would have contacted you again, or come by to personally investigate it. I'm sure if something was wrong, it is is already being taken care of." She smiled, trying to calm her anxious friend down. It seemed to be working, and Twilight slowly returned her friend's smile. Rarity decided that it would be best to approach the topic of the mystery colt another time. "So, Fluttershy and I are getting together for a spa trip tomorrow. Maybe we should make it a full blown girl's day!" Rarity offered as their lunches were delivered. They ate and shared small talk, but the entire time, Rarity couldn't help but wonder; what about the colt, exactly, was occupying her friend's mind.

* * *

Applejack trotted briskly back towards Sweet Apple Acres, the farm her family had owned and operated since the founding of Ponyville back in Granny Smith's younger years. The sky was clear, Celestia's sun was shining, and she couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face had she wanted too.

The sound of giggling and loud, excited voices from behind caught her attention, and she turned to look over her shoulder, seeing her little sister Applebloom, rushing along with two other small fillies, Rarity's little sister Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Given the rapid buzz to the little orange pegasus' wings, Applejack could only assume they were planning another crusade for their cutie marks. She smiled and rolled her eyes. She would have to check in at their clubhouse later to make sure they were keeping out of trouble.

As she approached the farm, she saw her brother, the large red colt known as Big Macintosh, pulling a cartload of apples into the shed. "Hey Big Mac! Ah'm back!" The colt nodded, before unhooking his work collar from the cart, and approaching his sister.

"'Bout time, AJ. Yer friend's out looking fer ya." He said in his slow, steady drawl, a piece of hay hanging from his lips. Applejack followed her brother's gaze out and slightly above the orchard.

"RD?" She asked simply, receiving a nod and a drawn out, "Eeeyup." From Big Mac. "Alrigh', Ah'll go find 'er. An' then Ah'll finish tha apple-buckin' so ya can git started on plowin'."

"Eeeyup." Big Mac said, turning to make his way towards the field where the plow was waiting. Applejack watched her brother with a slight smile. He was family, but sometimes she worried about him. She chuckled softly and turned to trot off into the orchard. She could worry about her brother's personal life later. Right now, she had to go find one of her friends who was probably napping in one of her family's apple trees.

The search, thankfully, did not last long. The one good thing about Rainbow's multi-hued mane and tail, was that it stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the natural color scheme of the farm. It also helped that Rainbow snored something fierce, something she would deny to her last breath, the orange earth pony was sure.

So, after maybe a quarter of an hour, Applejack stood looking up at the dangling tail of her friend. "RD! RD, wake up!" She called. Receiving no answer, she turned her hind legs to the tree, lined herself up, and bucked.

"Whoa! What gives!?" Shouted a raspy, and rather annoyed voice, still laced with the grogginess of sleep. The cyan colored pegasus had managed to get her wings to working just quick enough to keep her hovering a foot or so above the ground. "AJ? C'mon, I had just gotten comfy."

Applejack rolled her eyes, and turned to face her friend. "Sorry Rainbow." She said, not sounding the least bit sorry. "But Big Mac said ya was lookin' fer me?" At this, the pegasus seemed to finish waking up.

"Oh yeah! Pinkie's going to be throwing a party this evening. Apparently there's some new pony in town! She was kind of scarce with the details though! You know how she is when she's excited... Ooh! I wonder if it's a new pegasus! I could use some new people to race against!"

Applejack shook her head. "Sorry ta disappoint sugarcube, but he's an earth pony." Rainbow was suddenly hovering right in front of the orange mare's face. "Wait, you've met him?! Why wasn't I invited?! And how did you even know?!"

Applejack sighed, raising a hoof to her cyan friend's chest and gently pushing her away. "I went ta visit Twiligh' this mornin', 'member? Apparently, she an' Zecora found 'im out in tha Everfree a few nights ago. I ended up taggin' along on 'er visit is all."

Rainbow Dash seemed to think this over, before lowering her hooves to the ground. "Oh... Well, he must be pretty awesome! Not as awesome as me of course, but Pinkie asked me to stop by later to make some special cupcakes for the party, so he must be pretty awesome, right?"

At this Applejack narrowed her eyes slightly. "I don' know RD... I don' like ta talk bad 'bout anypony, but somethin' 'bout him... Jest seemed like he was hidin' somethin'..."

Rainbow Dash looked at her friend, a bit more seriously. "You don't think he's bad news, do you? If so, I'll kick his flank from here all the way to Manehattan!" She had once again taken to hovering in the air, throwing a series of flashy chops and kicks at the air in front of her to illustrate her point. Her orange friend just shook her head.

"I don' think he's bad... Jest... He's not tellin' the whole truth..." Rainbow nodded. As the element of honesty, Applejack had an innate sense for these kinds of things. So, Rainbow trusted her with matters such as these.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it, only because I know you're a horrible liar!" She took the air, giving a salute to Applejack. "Anyway AJ, I'll see you at the party! I still have to go let Fluttershy know!" And with that, she was gone, leaving only a rainbow trail across the blue sky in her wake.

Applejack watched her leave with a smile, before turning her focus to her work. These apples wouldn't buck themselves.

* * *

**A/N:**_ So, chapter three. I was really hoping to get this up earlier in the week, but, you know, life. Also writer's block. Horrible, horrible writer's block. Anyway, what do you think? Feel free to let me know. Reviews are welcome._


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters, locations, or really anything even remotely related to the My Little Pony franchise. Nor is this story generating any profit._

**A/N:**_ So, for those of you who have been keeping up, or interested in my story, I do want to start by saying thank you for at least showing interest, and I want to apologize for the long gap in updates. Lost internet for a bit. But I'm back, and I'm going to try to continue a somewhat regular update schedule. I cannot promise anything though, between life and the occasional case of writer's block._

**Chapter 4:**

He still wasn't sure what had gone wrong, exactly. He just knew that he was frozen in place by the rather unsettling image before him. He was scrambling to gather his thoughts, to collect himself so that he could move, escape, do anything really. It was only by luck that he had managed to avoid the architect of this scene for as long as he had.

Meanwhile, the party was in full swing around him. The library was full of ponies. In fact, he got the impression there were simply too many. Something in the back of his mind nagged at him that there was no way this many ponies could possibly fit into one building. And everything seemed just way too loud. Of course, as he'd never been one for parties to begin with, that may just be him.

He had tried to sneak away to the kitchen, but that plan had been cut short when he'd seen Pinkie Pie in there, talking to a yellow-coated pegasus. He'd managed to duck back out of sight before she had turned to look at him. He had the unnerving feeling she was looking for him, and with all the noise going on at the moment, the last thing he wanted to do was talk to the hyper-active pink party pony.

He shuffled over towards one of the many walls lined with bookshelves, only to realize something; his usual strategy of just standing near a wall and blending in wasn't working here. Of course, it didn't help that his color scheme was chosen for him. His gray and black palette stood out noticeably among the far more vibrantly colored ponies. He'd had to keep on the move all night just to avoid awkward conversations.

"Hey! How you liking the party?" The voice from his left side, elevated to be heard over the din of the party, caught him by surprise, and he jerked his head towards it while his body flinched away. Thankfully it wasn't the high pitched voice of Pinkie, but rather the more mellow tone suggested it belonged to his current caretaker, Miss Twilight Sparkle.

He cleared his throat, and cast a glance around at the party in progress. "I uhh... I don't know... I don't think parties are really my thing..." He said his voice almost lost in the sounds of happy ponies enjoying themselves.

Twilight nodded, and patted his shoulder with one of her forehooves. "Well, I think you should go out there and try to have some fun. Ponyville's full of great ponies. I was actually planning on introducing you to some of my other friends, but last I saw Fluttershy she was talking to Pinkie, and I haven't seen Rainbow Dash all night. I hope she's not napping through it. Anyway, you should meet some people. Make some friends. And you really need to try some of these cupcakes Pinkie made for the party. They're absolutely delicious." So saying, the newest member of Equestrian royalty, grabbed one of the cupcakes with her magic, taking a bite and wandering off into the crowd, probably to find her still missing friend.

After she left, his eyes scanned the room while he debated how best to do none of the things she had mentioned. He had seen this coming, and he had tried to weasel out of it. As soon as Twilight came to pick him up from the hospital she had been acting slightly off. He had expected her to want to rush right home and grill him with questions. Instead, she had offered to show him around Ponyville, and take him to lunch (which would have been better, had meat been an option). It was right about then that his sixth sense started to tingle, informing him that something was up. The way she would occasionally glance at the clock tower on the town hall, the way her pace was pretty casual until it picked up when she announced they should probably get back to the library. Sure, small things that seemed like a proper welcoming, except there were small things that didn't seem to add up in almost imperceptible ways. And of course, when they finally got back to the library, there was a surprise party waiting just for him, that he really could have done without.

He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed that his feet.. er.. hooves, had decided to relocate him, carrying him across the library where he was currently propped against a wall. He just had to wait it out, and eventually everyone would get tired, and go home. It was a tried and true plan that had yet to f-

"There you are!" The sudden loud burst of sound actually caused him to yelp and turn his head trying to find it. And there, standing on his back was Pinkie Pie. He found himself completely at a loss to say anything, mostly because he was unable to fathom how she could have possibly gotten there without his knowledge. Sure he may zone out from time to time, but he was pretty sure he'd have to be in a coma before he failed to notice someone climb onto his back.

"I've been looking for you all night! What do you think of your party?!" The hyper pony asked, hopping down to the ground so they were face to face. "I made it special for you to welcome you to Ponyville! Isn't it just the bestest party ever?! Have you played any games?! Ooh! Or tried the punch?! It's my own special recipe! And the cupcakes! You have to try the cupcakes! And then we can play some games, and I'll introduce to everyone I know..." Her voice seemed to fade into the background noise of the party as his brain realized it's mistake. By not speaking first, by giving her an opportunity to start speaking, he had trapped himself. His eyes, the pupils of which had shrunken to tiny pinpricks were scanning the area in a frenzied search for escape. He was suddenly very aware why some animals would chew their own leg off just to escape a trap. The cold sweat on the back of his neck was growing more uncomfortable by the second, and while he couldn't exactly differentiate the sound of her voice, he knew it was still going because her lips were moving at a rate that he was fairly certain should not be possible. What was with this pony?!

He was mere seconds away from simply making a mad dash towards the front door and safety, when salvation came in the form of an orange hoof firmly coming to rest over Pinkie's lips. The sudden action shook him out of his anxiety attack, long enough to hear a somewhat familiar drawl. "Why don't ya' jest run along and see ta' tha' other guests Pinkie? He'll still be here ta' talk to later." Pinkie nodded with a muffled sound that he assumed to be affirmation, before she bound away into the crowd, stopping periodically to ask other ponies how they were enjoying themselves.

Applejack, his savior, turned to look at him, tilting her Stetson hat back on her head. "Whoo-whee... Sorry 'bout that Sugarcube. Ah know how Pinkie can be, and when Ah saw ya' over here talkin' to her, lookin' nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full o' rockin' chairs, I figured you could use a hand."

He chuckled a little, offering a grateful nod. "I uhh... Thanks. I know she means well, I just... I don't do well with parties. Lots of people, noise... Always kind of made me anxious." He said. The orange farm pony looked at him in a way that made him feel rather scrutinized, before she tilted her head. "C'mon then. We'll go outside fer' a bit." He nodded his assent and followed her to and through the front door of the library.

Once outside, he lowered himself to the ground, took a deep breath and turned his gaze to the sky. He was aware that Applejack was standing nearby, leaning against the tree that housed the Golden Oaks library, but he was just content to enjoy the quiet, to take a break from the crushing wave of ponies inside, and have a few precious moments to collect himself.

And of course, like all things he appreciated, it didn't last nearly long enough. The sound of Applejack clearing her throat drew his attention to the orange earth pony and he barely restrained a sigh. "I'm going to guess there's something you want to discuss?"

Applejack at least had the decency to look a bit abashed. "Well, it's jest that we don't know much about ya'. Ya' came outta' nowhere. Ya' say yer' havin' problems with yer' memory. Twilight's a good friend of mine, an' one o' the nicest ponies you could ever hope ta' meet..."

The gray colt lifted one of his forehooves in a placating manner. "I think I get where you're going with this. I'm not going to do anything to your friend. I promise... Though, I'm not sure you can hold me responsible if she works herself into a frenzy."

Applejack looked at the colt with a serious scrutiny for a bit. "Alrigh', Ah believe ya'. And don' even joke 'bout that... No one wants ta' see another Smarty-Pants episode." At that, the orange mare shuddered, and before he could ask what exactly this episode was, she had vanished back inside, where a sea of ponies awaited. Needless to say, he wasn't _that_ curious.

* * *

The party had died down a bit later, much to his delight. He had stayed outside for quite a bit of it. He just preferred the quiet serenity of the approaching night over the far too noisy, and crowded confines of the library at the moment. The more he thought on the very concept of this party taking place in a library, the more wrong it sounded. Granted, he still had to deal with a handful of ponies, but in smaller groups it was something he could manage. And he had to say that many of them were fairly pleasant. Like Ditzy, the blonde-haired mail-pony. Granted she did almost crash into him, but he supposed trying to fly with crossed eyes would do that. But her bubbly personality and optimism made it really hard to get mad at her, let alone stay mad. They didn't talk long, as she said she had to meet up with the doctor for some reason she wasn't even too sure of.

Lyra and Bon-Bon were two more he had met. Lyra was apparently a musician by trade, and Bon-Bon made sweets. Neither of these came as any surprise to him after the introduction. And talking to them was very yin and yang. Bon-Bon was rather laid back, quick with a joke and some easy conversation. Lyra was a bit more passionate, able to shift into high gear anytime a subject was brought up that she had strong feelings about. Among these was music, the pain of losing one's delicious slice of pie, and in a twist far more shocking than that of their occupations, the topic of hands. He had no clue how that topic even came up, but when it did, Lyra was all over it, talking about how they would work, and how they could be implemented to play her instrument without the use of magic. At some point, the conversation just got to be too surreal for the colt to follow anymore, and seeing them walk home side by side marked the ending to perhaps the single strangest non-Pinkie Pie-related moment of his night.

The meeting of Applejack's older brother however was a lot more to his liking. The massive red pony came outside, standing next to him, watching the sky, and chewing on a piece of wheat. "Yer the new colt?"

The gray mystery colt scrambled to his feet, slightly intimidated by the size of the red farm pony. "Yep."

Big Mac nodded. "Nice ta' meet ya'. Name's Big Macintosh. Applejack's brother." He said, offering one of his massive hooves for a hoofshake. The gray colt obliged.

"Nice to meet you. I'll let you know if I remember my name." He said simply. Big Mac nodded and went back to watching the sky. So did the new colt.

And shortly after, that moment of relative peace and quiet was shattered by Pinkie Pie bounding through the library doors, being followed by Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, the yellow pegasus he had seen her talking with in the kitchen, and another pegasus with a cyan coat and poly-chromatic mane. "See?! I told you we could find him! Man, I wasn't expecting him to take to play hide and seek at a party. It's not really a traditional party game. But hiding outside?! Is that even allowed?!" The colt actually felt like he could have wept at that moment. His eyes looked to the other mares that had followed Pinkie out. Twilight and Rarity both wore smiles, Applejack actually looked like she was trying to give him an unspoken apology, the cyan pegasus was giving him an appraising look, and the yellow one... Well, he couldn't tell. Most of her face was hidden behind her vibrant pink mane.

"Hello Pinkie... Yes, you found me. I never was very good at hiding I'm afraid." He started. Just because he was put off by her loud and boisterous attitude didn't mean he had to be a dick about it. Still though, as his mostly deadpan tone implied, he didn't feel obligated to be happy about it either.

"I know, silly! You didn't even try to hide in a bush, or a hay bale, or as part of a migrating balloon herd, or anything!" He almost wanted to comment on what she meant by a migrating balloon herd, but decided that if the rest of her friends could roll with it, he could at least not bring up how bizarre it sounded to him. "Anyway, I'm glad we found you! Twilight and I were going to introduce you to our friends!"

Twilight cut in at this point, though she looked a bit embarrassed. "We were, though it did occur to me after the fact that you have already met most of them. But since Rainbow finally decided to show up..." She said, causing the cyan pegasus to suddenly find the ground very interesting, as that's where her gaze shifted. He also thought he heard her mumble something about 'Daring Do' and an escape, but he couldn't be sure. "We figured you should meet the rest of our friends. This is Rainbow Dash." She said with a nod to the rainbow-maned mare, who wasted no time flapping her wings to hover a few feet above the ground.

"You probably already know about me! Fastest flier in all Equestria!" She said with a smug grin, which deflated slightly as she took in the blank, and decidedly unimpressed, look on his face. "C'mon, surely you've heard about my awesome exploits?! My daring adventures?! My..."

The gray colt raised a forehoof to the side of his head, tapping it lightly. "Memory." He said simply, which brought Rainbow Dash up short with a confused look. Applejack took over from there. "RD, the colt cain't even remember his own name..."

"Well, then I guess I'm just gonna' have to remind him why I'm the awesomest pony ever!" Applejack facehoofed, and the colt sighed slightly, wishing he had fingers again to pinch the bridge of his nose. Wait, did he even technically have a bridge of the nose anymore?

His thoughts were cut short by Twilight speaking again. "And this is Fluttershy." She said, gesturing to the yellow pegasus who, unlike her light-blue friend, seemed to try to shrink back away from him. She said something that may have been a greeting maybe, or possibly just a trick of the wind. It was hard to tell. He just smiled and gave a nod. "Well, it is nice to meet you both. And thank you for the party, Pinkie. It was certainly... something I'll never forget." _'No matter how hard I try.'_ "But I'm kind of feeling worn out. Miss Sparkle, if it's not too much trouble, could you show me where I'll be sleeping tonight?"

Twilight nodded. "Sure. And Twilight's fine. Miss Sparkle makes me sound old." She then said goodbye to her friends, and turned to lead him up the stairs to the newly cleaned guest room. Though on the way, he had to pause for a moment, as he noticed a purple reptile of some sort putting a collection of cleaning supplies into a closet. He was still putting off his freakout moment for being in a land full of talking ponies, and now there was this.

"Spike! Oh my gosh, I can't believe I forgot to introduce you to Spike!" The sound of Twilight's voice edged his confusion to one side where it could probably develop into a full blown psychosis at a later date. But it wasn't quite enough to completely shake him from his thoughts. The purple reptile, hearing his name, smiled and trotted over. "Hey there! Name's Spike! I'm a dragon, and number one royal assistant to Princess Twilight Sparkle!" He said, offering a claw for the gray colt to shake. Which he did.

"Nice to meet you Spike, I am super confused right now. So, I think I'm going to go to bed and try to sort this out." He said plainly, earning a quizzical look from the baby-dragon, and a slightly more concerned one from Twilight. "Oh gosh! I'm sorry! I didn't even think that you probably haven't seen a dragon before!"

He shook his head, something about her words nagging at him for a reason he wasn't entirely sure of. "No, it's okay. This has just been a trying day, and I'm a bit overtaxed." He said, offering a smile that he hoped was equal parts weariness and understanding, and not teetering on the border of maniacally deranged, like he kind of worried it might be.

Twilight nodded with a small smile of her own. "Of course. Your room's this way." She said, once again resuming the lead to the guest room on the second floor. He had gotten used to walking on four legs easily enough, though as he was finding out, stairs may prove to be another issue altogether. He took them slowly, and still almost tumbled down them twice. But he soon reached the guest room, and after this day, he was only too glad to crawl under the covers and drift off to sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere far away, a man named Nathan Klein was knocking on the door to an apartment. His friend was known to fall off the radar for up to a month at a time, and for the most part, nobody thought too much about it. But Nathan was worried. Because there were a few things that his friend never did. And first among those was miss a game night without informing anyone. Like he did last Wednesday. To make matters worse, he wasn't answering his cell, or responding to any of his texts.

He sighed and knocked again. "C'mon man... Open the door..." He muttered, looking at his watch. It was half past seven. Another sign something was wrong. Seven o'clock on a Friday. He was always home then, because his favorite show was on. If nothing else, there should have been an annoyed shout for interrupting his TV time. Instead, there was only silence.

Nathan knocked sharply once more on the door. "William! C'mon man! This isn't funny! Answer the door!" But even as he called out, he knew. He knew that something had happened to his friend.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters, locations, or really anything even remotely related to the My Little Pony franchise. Nor is this story generating any profit._

**A/N: **_So, I wanted to say thanks to all the people that have been reading this, or at the very least shown enough interest to stick with it this far. You guys are awesome._

**Chapter 5:**

Night had fallen like a blanket across Equestria, the stars in the sky twinkled brightly, and the waning moon hung placidly in the sky, casting a soft glow on the kingdom. And while many ponies slept easily through the night, a handful were having trouble finding sleep.

At the edge of Ponyville, more specifically at the bountiful apple orchard that had served as the town's foundation many years ago, an orange mare found herself unable to sleep. Something was nagging at her, but try as she might, she couldn't place it. Just that it concerned the new colt in town.

She rolled onto one side, pulling her blankets around her to try to find a comfortable spot, but it seemed it would be impossible with this riddle she was facing. Finally flopping onto her back, she stared at the ceiling, her legs splayed to her sides, and she groused to herself. "Kinda' wish Twi was here. She's a lot better at figuring these things out than Ah am." But Twilight was not here. She was at the library, with the mysterious new colt.

Applejack wished she had an easy solution. A clear sign that he was a threat, or a straight answer as to who he was. But the whole situation was muddled. Sure, she got the feeling he wasn't being totally honest with them, but she couldn't figure out which parts he may be lying about.

She sighed, and turned onto her side once again, staring out the window of her room that overlooked the orchards her family had grown and tended for four generations now. She smiled at the thought, finding some comfort in it. The new colt may be hiding some things, but he had told her he wouldn't harm Twilight, and she believed that. Though it was odd that he didn't enjoy Pinkie's party. Everyone enjoyed a Pinkie Pie party.

She chuckled, closing her eyes as she finally felt the embrace of sleep reaching for her. Seriously, did he even give a reason for his dislike. He said they make him anxious? Something about too many people and too much noise...

Her emerald eyes snapped open as she finally stumbled on what had been troubling her. 'People'. He had said 'people'. Not 'ponies'. Come to think of it, Applejack had no idea what a 'people' was. But apparently the colt knew. And Applejack suddenly had a feeling that that was a part of what he'd been hiding.

But was he? He had amnesia. But, there were things that were now making her wonder about that. Again, his phrasing. He said he'd always been anxious at parties. So, surely he must remember some parties if he remembers being anxious at them, right? But when he claimed not to remember Rainbow Dash, there was a genuineness to it. He honestly couldn't remember the rainbow maned pegasus, despite her semi-famous status. Applejack, groaned as her mind once again kicked up into a storm of activity, and she finally rolled out of bed, her hooves landing quietly on the floor so as not to wake her sleeping kin. She needed to get to the kitchen. A mug of warm cider should do the trick. And tomorrow, she'd have to have a visit with Twilight and her new guest.

* * *

Outside of Ponyville, the lone occupant of a hut in the Everfree Forest was also restless. Zecora had given up on sleep hours ago, and now sat sipping a potent tea, brewed to keep her alert and energized. Sure it came with a price, as after the night she was almost assured to fall into an exhausted slumber, but the forest was making her uneasy as of late.

Usually this isn't too odd. Most ponies are uneasy in the forest, and with good reason. It's a wild place, and dangerous to those who don't know what to be wary of. But the Zebra had made a home for herself here. She knew what to avoid, and what the safest paths to tread were. But lately, the forest itself seemed almost angry. Several times, the night went completely still, the silence so complete that it could not have been a natural occurrence.

Zecora sipped her tea, glancing out the windows of her hut. Come sunrise, she would have to head to Ponyville and meet up with her friend Twilight. She knew if anyone could get to the bottom of this, it was her well-read friend. At least, Zecora hoped so. She set the tea cup down on the table, but her attention was quickly drawn back towards the window. She could have sworn she had seen something out there, a flickering shadow amongst the darkness.

She trotted over to the window, peering out, but even with the soft glow of Luna's moon aiding her, she could see no sign of the fleeting image. "Perhaps my eyes are fooling me, as there is nothing here to see." She said softly to herself, before she felt her mane stand on end when she realized something else. There was nothing to hear either. All the natural noises of the forest had ceased once more in the passing of the shadowed form. Zecora made her way to sit at her table, sipping her tea once more. Sunrise. She would head for Ponyville as soon as the sun rose.

* * *

Princess Twilight Sparkle was no stranger to burning the midnight oil. After all, there just weren't enough hours in the day to study everything she wanted to study. So, she often stayed up late, trying to cram just a little bit more in.

And tonight was no exception. She had at least five books open around her. Medical books concerning amnesia patients and head injuries, books of lore and legends, looking for anything concerning the Everfree Forest, or perhaps the creatures that live there. She had so many questions, and she was practically bursting to ask them.

But her guest was asleep at the moment, and seemed to be rather easily overwhelmed when he was awake. So, she was doing the next best thing: researching! She was researching other possible causes of his amnesia, perhaps from a creature or a plant like Poison Joke. She was researching for suggested treatments for it, and while she wasn't sure the 'blunt force to the skull' theory would work, or be appreciated, the one about introducing them to familiar things seemed to hold water. She just wished she knew what kinds of things would be familiar enough to trigger his memories. She was even hoping to find out more about the forest itself. After all, an unscheduled meteor, the eerie feeling of the forest, and then a strange colt turns up out of nowhere in a forest that is positively steeped in myths and rumors? It seemed almost far too convenient. And since she couldn't get a lead on the meteor, or really much information from the colt himself, that left the forest as the only possible thing she could research. Even if surprisingly little was known about it

* * *

Upstairs in the guest room, the mysterious colt was sitting in front of a mirror, looking at himself. He wasn't even sure what to make of it. A pony. He was a freaking pony! Having finally found a moment to have his scheduled freak out, he decided he'd take it before someone else barged in with good, but ultimately unwanted, intentions.

But he really couldn't find the motivation to go into hysterics at the moment. Okay, sure, he was a pony. He had found himself in a world full of talking, colorful ponies. A world he knew nothing about, and had not the foggiest idea how he had arrived. He had no clue how to get home, and as a result, he had no clue how long he would be here. But nope. He didn't feel like he was on the verge of some mental breakdown, where he would just curl up into the fetal position and cry that it had to all be a dream. That he would wake up soon. He sighed and dropped his head to the top of the dresser that sat in front of the mirror, closing his eyes.

"It's not like this is really a surprise, is it?" He snapped his eyes open, jerking his head upright to find himself staring at the source of the voice: his reflection. The short, unruly brown hair. The deep-set brown eyes in a face that was that unique shade of pale one gets from actively avoiding the sun. The stubble that wasn't shaved very often because it never really did much growing. Overall, a completely average human face.

And after his day, that was what caught him off-guard. He sat speechless for a moment, just looking at his reflection, and then back to his body, which was at the moment, still very much a pony. And at that moment, something occurred to him.

"You would think they could at least get the color schemes to match up..." He muttered, looking from his current body to the reflection of the one had somehow left behind. The reflection rolled his eyes.

"And I shouldn't be surprised that the first thing out of your mouth is a wise-ass comment. But, I guess it beats a psychotic breakdown, so kudos to that." The colt lifted a hoof, opening his mouth, and was about to point out that having a conversation with a non-matching reflection, was exactly the kind of thing crazy people did, when something caught his attention. He whipped around looking for the source of the movement. Or, was it movement? He didn't see anything, or really even hear anything. But he knew something was in the room behind him.

And so something was. Sitting on his bed, looking at him with curious bluish-green eyes, was another pony. It looked similar to Twilight, physically anyway, with the horn and the wings folded against her sides. But everything else was different. The color scheme was either a dark blue, or a black. It was hard to him to tell in the poorly lit room. Her mane and tail resembled a starry night sky, drifting around calmly in a breeze he was sure wasn't there. Her cutie mark was a crescent moon, and the tiara she wore seemed to signify some other type of royalty.

He paused for a moment, looking from the pony on his bed, to the reflection in the mirror, which shrugged as if to say it had no idea. And it was that moment, that single surreal moment that seemed to shatter the illusion. Everything seemed to slow down and distort, a rushing sound filled his ears, and he closed his eyes to give it time to pass. He knew what it was, but had never been able to describe it to people accurately. The best he could say was that it was his conscious mind entering the dream. It was a rather disconcerting feeling, but it did often let him make more sense of the dreams he was having.

The only problem was, when he opened his eyes again, the dark pony was still there, her gaze showing slight concern. Which meant she wasn't part of his dream. He stood from the dresser, turning to look at her fully, not really sure what to expect. So, he cleared his throat , sucked a breath in through his teeth, and decided to speak. "And you would be..?"

The pony in question quirked an eyebrow at him, and he countered with a poker face. After a moment, the pony spoke, her voice was authoritative and confident, a bit rougher around the edges than most other ponies he had met, but still not unpleasant to the ears. "Surely you jest."

He just sat silently for a moment, running through what very, very limited knowledge he had on the land he found himself in. And ultimately coming up with nothing. He offered a shrug, and an apologetic smile. "Uhh... Humor me?"

The pony got up from the bed, her hooves moving noiselessly across the floor as she approached him. "We are Luna, sister of Celestia, and princess of the night." She stood only a few feet away from him now, but her eyes were looking over his shoulder, her gaze settled on the mirror. "And just who, and what, might you be?" She asked, her tone taking a bit of a sterner edge to it, as she lifted a hoof to point at the mirror, indicating exactly what she was talking about.

"I... My name is William." He said, not seeing any point in trying to keep up the charade he had been working with for so long. "I'm... Well, I was a human." He said, looking back at the mirror which still showed a reflection of his human form. "I don't mean any harm, honest. I'm just..." He sighed and dropped his flank to the floor, his shoulders slouching. "I don't know. Lost, I guess is a good word to use. I don't know how I got here. I don't even remember the events that led up to it. I just want to go home, and..." He sighed, shrugging his shoulders."

"So, why hast thou been deceiving our friends?" Luna questioned, and the implications behind the question actually caused him to flinch slightly.

"Because I didn't want to make things more complicated." He said, realizing how stupid that sounded as it left his mouth. "I didn't want to have to answer a million questions, and try to deal with so many people wanting so many things while I'm still trying to wrap my head around what happened to me. I took an easy way out. I just wanted to buy some time to figure out where I was, how I got there, and how to get back home." He sighed, and dropped himself to the floor. Luna watched him curiously, noticing the way his shoulders were shaking. She knelt down, prepared to try to comfort the poor colt, when she noticed he wasn't crying.

He was laughing, though it seemed wrong. It wasn't like the boisterous laughter of joy, or even the mischievous laughter her sister is known for when she has a scheme. No, this sound was hollow and mirthless, a cynical sound that was not often heard. "Stupid right? Especially since I would have to come clean sooner or later if I was going to get any help getting back. But..." He just shook his head, the chuckles dying out. "I guess I always did have a knack for overlooking details like that." He turned his gaze from the princess to the mark on his own flank, and gave a short snort.

The princess also eyed his cutie mark, curiously. "Excuse me, William. If I may ask, what does it mean?" Her tone had lost a lot of its edge, and this seemed to draw his attention more than if she had yelled at him. He looked from her, back to the mark, and shrugged. "I don't know. Pinkie tried to guess at it as well. I don't think she was anywhere close, but I could be wrong, seeing as how I don't even know." He sighed, and shook his head. "And I don't think 'William' is going to work as a name..." Luna gave him a questioning look, and was preparing to say something when he cut her off. "Yes, I know... With the deceit, but please... Just give me a chance to not stick out like a sore thumb until I can wrap my head around things."

The princess of the night, closed her lips for a moment, looking at him with a degree of scrutiny. "Very well. But, what is this 'thumb' you speak of?"

He, opened his mouth, but nothing came out, as her question had left him rather flummoxed. "Umm... Well, it was really just an expression but... Uhh..." He looked over his shoulder to the mirror, where the reflection rolled his eyes and gave a thumbs up. "That's a thumb."

Luna cocked her head to one side. "I always thought those were hands. Lyra dreams about them often."

William face-hoofed, and sighed. "Well, the whole thing is a hand, but the digit there is..." He cut himself off, turning back to look at Luna. "How, did we even get on thi- You know, what, never mind. I'd be glad to explain a thumb, to the best of my knowledge, at some later point..." He trailed off, realizing he was talking to royalty. A realization that hit him at that moment like a ton of bricks, especially since he usually had a hard time speaking to the cute girl who worked at the bookstore back home. At that moment, he dropped his face to the floor with a weary sigh.

"I'm sorry..." He mumbled into the floorboards. Luna could only look at him curiously. A stranger in a strange land, trying to adapt when everything was different than what he had known. And she realized she could sympathize. Was it not so long ago that Twilight Sparkle herself had had to assist her in understanding the ways customs had changed in the thousand years she had been banished? Had helped her understand and adapt to ways she was unused to? And now, here was this colt, in a world that wasn't his, surrounded by people he doesn't know, and customs that are unfamiliar to him. And like her, he's trying to adjust without being overwhelmed by all of it.

She leaned down and offered his mane a gentle nuzzle, trying to offer him some comfort. "You have no reason to apologize. I can understand the hardships that come with feeling out of place. I apologize for my demeanor. My friends are very important to me, and I suppose I was a tad over-protective. In fact, were it not for Twilight Sparkle herself, I might still be having difficulties adjusting to Equestria as it is now." This statement caused the colt to lift his head, meeting her gaze with a puzzled look of his own.

"I'm not sure I understand. What do you mean 'as it is now'?" He asked, and Luna, sighed, turning her gaze from him and out a window he could have sworn wasn't even there a moment ago, looking at the moon hanging above them. "'Tis a long story. Perhaps I shall share it with you, if you share some more of yours with me?"

William offered a wan smile. "I guess. I could use someone to talk to, and I'm not sure many of the ponies I've met so far would be quite as understanding..." He shuddered, thinking about Twilight and her incessant questions, or Pinkie and her... Just being Pinkie really. Not to mention Applejack, who may not respond so well to finding out she had been being deceived, even if she did hear the reason.

Luna offered a smile of her own. "I wouldn't right them off so quickly. The choice on when to tell them, I will leave up to you. But they are some of the most amazing ponies I know. And some of the best friends a pony could ask for." William just nodded, and Luna stood, walking towards the window. "I bid you a good night. I have duties to attend to. But we shall meet again." And so saying, she spread her wings, and took the night.

After she left, William dropped his head to the floor again. "I still need a name..." He muttered, closing his eyes, and thinking over the conversation. The situation. There were so many pieces he was missing, so much he just wasn't seeing. Suddenly his eyes snapped open, and his head jerked up. He found himself looking into the same ice blue eyes reflected in the mirror. "Blindspot..." He muttered. And despite the soreness in his forehead, and stiffness in his neck, he allowed himself a small smile. Sure, the name was stupid, but it was fitting. And more importantly, it gave him a foundation in this new land. An identity.

**A/N: **_Sorry that chapter took so long. Been a crazy few weeks. I know it's not really the best chapter, and I do apologize. Hopefully, the next one will arrive in a more timely fashion, and be a bit better. I'll try my best, but I can't promise anything. Sorry. =(_

_Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, and like I said before, you guys are awesome for at least checking it out._


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